Toshokan no Kuchizuke
by Surrealistic Strawberry
Summary: Osamu skips an anticipated field trip to show Ritsuka something. If all goes well, Ritsuka may find that Osamu is interested in him as more than just a friend...but will Osamu's plan backfire? A rarity! OsamuxRitsuka! Read, review, and enjoy.


**What does the title mean? Well, it's an embarrassingly straightforward title, so I wrote it in Japanese (romaji, of course). If you don't know and would like to find out, please PM me or ask in a review and I'll PM you with it. Thank you!**

**A/N's:**** I am very excited to post this story! I wanted to put it up yesterday, actually…but my internet service went psychotic. Well, thanks to the wonders of Kami-sama, here I am up and running again! **

**I didn't notice a single fic that had anything to do with Osamu on this site (I could always be wrong, of course). And I really like Osamu! So since she and Ritsuka are both so cute, I decided to give them a little bit of romance. Nothing too serious, but something cute.**

**The story occurs when Ritsuka was still going to his old school with Osamu.**

**Well, enough of me rambling! XP Please read and review! Arigatou gozaimashita.**

**-SS**

**DISCLAIMER:**** I have already stated in my profile that I don't own any series that I write about. However, there is a particular book mentioned in here that came purely out of my imagination. XD**

**The pictures mentioned _in _the book, though, are based on actual photographs. I do not own any of them.**

* * *

Her dark eyes followed him step for step as he clipped down the sidewalk. Ritsuka was very fast, and he didn't even have any lessons to dash off to after school, as far as she knew. 

Osamu got lost in the boy…his shining black hair, soaking in the sunlight and refracting it back in lovely highlights; the ebony-hued tail long enough to wrap around her; mysterious orchid eyes…

Soft, small lips…

"Kimizuka-san?" a younger student asked her.

The girl's ears perked at the sudden interruption. With a short blink, Osamu looked down at the short-haired blonde girl. "Oh! Anou…Ai, yes?"

"Yeah!"

Osamu smiled back at the girl, keeping an eye locked on the irresistible catboy turning the corner. "What is it?"

"Aren't you coming to the Photography Club's field trip today?"

Osamu's lips pouted out a bit, and she turned her head away with a swish of black hair. "Nope. Sorry."

"Awwww…" Ai moaned. "Why?"

"Because," Osamu started to explain with a mischievous grin, "I have to go to the library."

"No you don't, Kimizuka-san!" Ai cried. "Sempai, you're always looking up famous photographers that you're so much better than! But you really should come see this exhibit with us. Plea—"

Before she could beg anymore, a flash of light pierced her pupils.

Osamu peered over her little, black digital camera, eyes bordered at the top by blunt bangs. "I promise I'll come next time. But don't worry; I'm not the only one who isn't coming along."

Eyes spinning, the poor little kohai put her hands over her kitty ears and asked dizzily, "Who else, Kimizuka-san?"

Osamu glanced quickly over her right shoulder to check Ritsuka's track. She gazed again at Ai and stated wryly, "You'll see when Sensei takes attendance, won't you?" She pat the innocent student in the direction towards the bus.

Ai was still blinded by Osamu's unexpected camera flash. Stumblingly, she staggered toward what she could see of their enormous bus. "Kimizuka-san, thank youuu…."

Osamu giggled and waved. Not like Ai could see her, anyway. "No problem. Have fun, Ai-chan."

After seeing to it that a couple more girls help their companion toward the bus, Osamu settled her dark eyes on the candid shot of Ai that she'd captured.

"I'll bet Ritsuka will look a lot more surprised…" Osamu anticipated. Her eyes shut tightly and she giggled mischievously.

* * *

Ritsuka's tail swished behind him, perfectly swaying in balance with his feet. Smooth and shiny, it ruffled when he jumped back in shock. 

"AHH!" he shouted. His right hand flew up instinctively to cover his heart.

"Surprise!" Osamu exclaimed cheerfully, her nose wrinkling as she grinned in front of her friend.

_-Thump. Thump. Thump.-_ Ritsuka's heart was racing. What was she doing, skipping up to him from behind him and jumping in his path?

"Osamu!" Ritsuka was never mad at her. She had a pleasant air about her, like a silent but lighthearted hummingbird. His little lips peeled into a genuine smile as they walked on together toward the intersection. "I thought you were going on the trip…"

"I decided to find out where you've been going," she explained. "You haven't gone on any of our club trips in forever, so it's not really worth it anyway."

"W-where I've been going?" Ritsuka stammered. "Welll…" He didn't feel comfortable saying that Wednesdays were his "doctor days."

"Ah, well, you don't have to tell me," Osamu shrugged, still clipping along in her smart little black school shoes. She closed her eyes and turned her face up towards the sky as the wind brushed past her thick raven-colored hair. "I understand."

_Osamu…_ Ritsuka thought to himself. This girl was really very flexible and wise…perhaps that's why Ritsuka felt that he could go to Osamu no matter what. They chatted about anything, no matter the triviality of the conversation topic.

"Well," Osamu huffed as she pushed in the button on the traffic light. "I know where I'm going."

Ritsuka was intrigued by her singsong tone. "Where?"

"To the library, of course," she said. Her small smile grew to push her cheeks up cutely.

"To the library?" Ritsuka repeated. "Why do you go there so often?"

The light across the street flashed "WALK." The students strolled along the crosswalk in unison.

"Well, maybe if you decide to come with me sometime, I can show you," Osamu teased playfully.

Ritsuka's ears twitched and faced ahead. Both Osamu and Seimei always knew how to spark his curiosity…though sometimes that made him feel under their control…

"…Osamu-san?" he asked. They were approaching the block that he usually turned on.

"Yes?"

"When do you usually go to the library?"

"I follow a strict schedule as far as library time," Osamu explained. "Every Wednesday directly after school. When we don't have a trip, of course."

_Kuso,_ Ritsuka muttered. He really liked Osamu's company, and since they had been seeing less and less of her, he wanted so badly to go. But Katsuko-sensei was expecting him…

Their footsteps marched on, and the block was coming up…no, it was right there…

"Osamu??" Ritsuka asked eagerly, sweatdropping. His ears wilted slightly. "Do you have a cell phone?"

The girl blushed and quickly rummaged through her brown leather bag. _Yes!!_

"Douzo, Ritsuka." She handed the little silver device to him.

"Arigatou," he thanked her.

Osamu linked her hands behind her back and listened as intently as she could on his conversation.

"Moshimoshi? Sensei…Hai, Ritsuka," he murmured. "Um, I can't really make it. I'm going to the library with my friend."

After a slight pause, Osamu leaned in with each passing second. Ritsuka finally replied happily, "Thank you, Sensei! Sayounara!" and clicked the off button.

At the office a little more than a block away, Katsuko-sensei smiled. _With his friend…that's wonderful._

The couple's sleek black tresses flew behind them as they ran to the library together. It wasn't too far off, and when other Tokyoites saw exactly where the giddy students were headed, they became perplexed. Since when did junior high students get so excited about going to the library?

Osamu's long skirt brushed her calves as the wind brushed up against it. It was beginning to look a little gray outside; the clouds were gathering ominously. "Hurry, Ritsuka," she beckoned, tucking a soft tuft of black hair behind her ear. Although he was wearing uniform pants while she wore her skirt, Ritsuka was not ahead of her. He had fallen behind a little when he realized that he still held Osamu's cellular phone in his hand. It seemed that lately, he grew nervous easily when there was an unexpected burden; a friend's trust laying in his responsibility. When Osamu called to him, he looked up from the small phone in his palm and dashed over to her quickly. She already had the door open, and they hurried inside at once while the raindrops began to form in spotted wet stains on the sidewalk.

"Ahh, we made it!" Osamu cheered quietly. The library was only semi-crowded, but she was a courteous girl who made sure to keep her voice down.

Ritsuka's ears mellowed, and his face was scrawled with confusion. "Um, of course we made it, Osamu…"

"Come on, Ritsuka," she called to him, commencing a brisk stroll toward the reference and large book section.

With nothing to say, Ritsuka smiled and made his way toward his friend. She was decisive and vigorous, but was also very calm and serious about the things she took great interest in.

When he reached her, she had darted behind a singular shelf that stretched down the length of a long cherrywood table. Her tail was long like his, but bushy, and it dangled to-and-fro like a million dark tassels when she settled herself in a seat behind the ledge of the bookshelf.

Her eyes smiled at him when they closed. She pat the chair on her left with a palm, like it was manufactured for the sole reason that Ritsuka would sit next to her. The boy happily complied, fingering the bandage under his right eye.

"I have to be honest," Osamu confessed. "I've wanted to show you this one for a while now, Ritsuka."

"Really?" Ritsuka took care to tone his voice down low before he asked. Now he was excited, his tail swinging back and forth like a little pendulum.

When Osamu's hands let the gigantic book slip from her fingers and onto the table, the couple's ears lowered quickly at the thunderous _-BAAAN-_ that it echoed throughout the building.

Ritsuka immediately coughed through the dust cloud and peeled the mammoth document open. All of the pages were thick; there had to be thousands of images inside.

"Did you even see what the cover said?" Osamu inquired, leaning over to Ritsuka. She scooted her chair a little closer to him. "What the title was?"

"No," he replied solemnly. Most of the images were hazy.

"_Timeless Photos of Love_," The corners of Osamu's mouth upturned and revealed her perfect white, aligned teeth.

"Mm," was all Ritsuka had to say. Osamu chuckled a little to herself.

"Wha—?!" His cat ears shot straight up and he bolted in his seat. People in aisles nearby stared at the youth who was making a ruckus.

"Ritsuka!" Osamu exclaimed softly, pressing her hands to the desk slowly in a "tone-it-down" motion.

"Ah, Osamu," he whispered hurriedly. "Look, look."

"Oh?" She peered closely.

It was a picture that had appeared on the cover of a famous issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Yoko Ono was shrouded in a pitch-black wrap, pinned to the wall by a stark naked John Lennon. He was kissing her cheek while his left foot was pushed against the wall beside his wife.

"Oh yes," she smiled. "I've seen that picture. I love the light source, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"Yes," Osamu affirmed. "This book's full of great pictures. Every one is masterful in some way or another. I thought you'd really appreciate it."

"…" Ritsuka looked a little more closely at the picture, but all it did was increasingly disturb him. Instead of uttering either truth or lie about what he really did think, he turned the page to find a different image.

Not a minute later, Osamu placed a finger between a page Ritsuka had nearly skipped. "This one I love."

A geisha clad in a silky magenta kimono was poised elegantly with a fan. It would have been a gorgeous still of an ornately dressed, dancing Japanese woman…but her pale face was thrown back in a silent ecstatic moan. A handsome man in a multi-layered black kimono with gold dragons embroidered into it stood behind her, sucking on her long neck as she continued to dance for him.

"The camera angle make it feel like you're in-between them," Osamu stated, in complete awe. "Brilliant—"

Ritsuka's hands swiped the pages rapidly to find something that didn't confuse him. He had finally reached the last page of the book, and the black-and-white image seemed to pop out before them.

Osamu's hair graced the page swiftly when she bent over to look closely at it. "This one's really famous," she said.

It seemed like America, 1940s. In the middle of a crowded street, a man in uniform held his love in his arms, dipped her down low so that she almost touched the ground, and kissed her passionately. People walking near them were practically nothing but blurs, looking into the couple's own little world with wonder and some, even envy.

"This just seems wrong," Ritsuka stated flatly.

"What's wrong about it?" Osamu asked him. He looked like he was about to leave her there alone, and she really didn't want that to happen.

Ritsuka gestured toward the icon on the page, and his ears and tail bristled in irritation. "Them! They're just kissing in the middle of the street, everyone watching. It's like they have no idea what they're doing."

"It's okay, Ritsuka, they're in love," she explained patiently. "A lot of people don't know how to react when they're in love. But this is a beautiful and spontaneous piece!"

"Well," Ritsuka mumbled, "I just don't understand any of these pictures. I used to really like photography, but these are a little weird."

Osamu's ears drooped and a drop of sweat trailed down her head. "I like them," she told him weakly.

Ritsuka shut the back cover over the final image. He turned his face to her, eyes open and full of unease for her. "Why?"

Osamu opened the book to that last page one more time, and she compared the man who had swept his woman off of her feet to the boy sitting next to her with one quick glance. They both looked really hot in uniform to her; she could say that much off of the top of her head. But Osamu was not insensitive.

"Ritsuka, when I see you," she explained. "I think about Love."

With that, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his.

She didn't know if he had closed his eyes or not (he hadn't; they were bugged open). She also didn't know if he would be insanely mad at her. The only thought on her mind was simple, and yet it made her heart race: it was their first kiss.

She pulled away, and Ritsuka simply blinked. His mouth had fallen open a little after their lips met; it was even pursed a little.

"I do love you, Ritsuka." Osamu smiled gleefully as if nothing had happened. She thought to herself how very right she was earlier that day, for Ritsuka's expression was the most dumbfounded that she had seen in a long time.

Ritsuka turned away quickly. He didn't want her to see his cheeks turning pink, and he wasn't even sure why his face and ears were getting so hot in the first place. All he knew was that Osamu had shared something important with him, and since she seemed so happy toward him like always, he felt compelled to keep things just the way they were.

"Um," Ritsuka stammered, twiddling his index fingers. "Thank you, Osamu."

She giggled lightly and took his hand, leaving the book out on the table face down. "I can walk home with you if you like."

"No, that's okay," he responded hastily. If he went home right then, he would be afraid of running into his mom. He was supposed to be at the doctor's, after all. "I can go alone, Osamu."

"I understand." They got up together and pushed their chairs in. When Ritsuka gathered his bag together and shuffled toward the door, he looked back at his girl friend one last time before heading to the park.

She held up one hand in a silent sayonara, mouth curved in a blushing beam.

Ritsuka smiled back and waved to her. Although rain pounded to the ground wherever he went the rest of the day, he remained optimistic for reasons he couldn't explain.

**-OWARI-**

Osamu: "...Darnit! Ritsuka has my cell phone!"


End file.
